Tejada will be there in the end

Things are bound to get better for reigning Most
Valuable Player Miguel Tejada. Right now, he
is off to a slow start which is getting slower. As
Rick Hurd of the Contra Costa Times mentions, he is in
the middle of a 5 for 44 slide.

Is it possible that the A's announcement that he was
not wanted beyond the end of the season is having an
adverse affect on his playing? Tejada does not believe
so. He thinks it is a function of on-the-field things
and nothing more: "It's not the contract thing,"
Tejada told Hurd. "It's not the MVP thing, either.
It's a lot of other things that are happening at the
plate."

Hurd points out that Tejada has never been a strong
starter and this is just another in a series of
forgettable Aprils. Over the last three years, April
has been his worst month in terms of batting average
and second-worst in terms of OPS. These early
downturns are much more difficult psychologically than
the mid-season variety however, because the numbers
are so much more glaring.